At just 27 years of age, American Mike Creed of the Rock Racing team finished up his ninth year as a professional with his last road race of the season, the Tour of Missouri back in September. While coming through the ranks, Creed was crowned U.S. national champion 20 times and was a member of the world championship team 6 times.

Creed has had ups and downs in his pro career, facing illnesses with relapses of Epstein-Barr disease and back problems while racing for the Prime Alliance, US Postal and Discovery, TIAA-CREF which became Slipstream teams, and now with Rock Racing.

I sat down with a relaxed Mike Creed, the evening after the time trial at the Tour of Missouri where our conversation meandered starting from this year, to his outlook on suffering, his recommendation to USA Cycling for its endurance track selections and finally his goals.

"When I was seventeen and eighteen racing in pro races, it didn’t matter if I failed, I could go out and just lay myself on the ground and no matter what place I got, it was decent so that allowed me to get some really solid results and it took awhile for me to just finally realize that no matter you just need to suffer. It’s okay to suffer, everybody is suffering."

Read complete interview on RoadBikeReview.com

... and I would love to be there taking photos.

The RedBull Rampage is back after a 3 year hiatus on a course that, and I quote "the riders who plan to tackle this sucker better be packing some brass cojones and have them polished to a lustrous shine."

What is it you may ask? The RedBull Rampage is a freeride mountain biking competition (check out the teaser video) which brings riders from all over the world to a sandstone ridge in the brutal landscape near Virgin, Utah. Riders such as World Champ Gee Atherton and his brother Dan, 2004 winner Cedric Gracia, Darren Berrecloth and lots more.

The competition is held on October 2-5 with the first two days scheduled as open practice days for the athletes, allowing them to scout their lines, size up the thirty-plus foot gaps and cliff drops, and practice their tricks.aturday, each of the 28 invited riders will take two runs; their best single-run scores will determine the top 14 who will advance to Sunday's final. The 14 finalists will run two more descents on Sunday, with their best score determining the overall winner.

Wanna go? Not so easy. You'll have to walk or bike four miles from the parking lot to the contest venue over uneven desert terrain. Pack everything in and pack everything out.

More info on the race site including photos of Day 1 (practice day) and the course and videos from previous years.

Well, after being abandoned by my acolyte (ha!) who left during the industry race, I hung around the Men's USA Crits final. The race was marred by crashes mostly on the first corner,  heck that was a crash in the first lap. The racing was aggressive and fast as only 38 points separated Toshiba‐Santo’s Yosvany Falcon over Time Pro’s Adam Myerson in the men’s overall competition.

Hilton Clarke and his two Toyota-United teammates took advantage of the cat and mouse games being played by the Toshiba-Santo and Time teams to pull out the win. Aldo Ilesic (Blacksheep) was second and Myerson finished third.

Clarke has time to celebrate his victory

"Tonight was a really sketchy course and I have the best cornerer in the business with Ivan Stevic and he just looked after me the whole race and the word of the night was composure. I just really, in the last three laps, had to keep my composure, it was just crazy out there. So just in the corners, every time, I just gave a bit of distance, I really made sure I had that last corner though, everyone else I think on every corner could outcorner me but that last corner, I kept waiting for it and I kept watching it, going through it and knowing I could do it in that last corner. " said Clarke who is also looking for a contract for next season.

All photos copyright Lyne Lamoureux

Continue reading this post »

As part of the Las Vegas Interbike extravangaza, last Thursday's night was held the final race of the USA Crits Series.  The event organizer did try to make it interesting by having a beer tent,  adding dancers (it is Vegas) and more, but for me  it came down to a sketchy parking lot crit with bad lightning. Maybe I was just tired after two long days in Vegas.

Also, a one-hour industry crit was scheduled in between the women's and men's races with the men starting at 9:30pm. Way too long for an industry race in my opinion or they should open up the VIP tent to the media as it killed the buzz. So much so that the announcers were telling the crowd, the majority being attendees from Interbike, that they were the quietest and lamest audience  they had even seen.

But the cyclists took the race seriously as the overall winner was still up in the air with only 64 points separating leader Kelly Benjamin (Cheerwine) from Vanderkitten’s Jennifer Wilson. And to add to the pressure, a lot of cyclists are still looking for a contract for the 2009 season.

In the final 4 laps of the 40 lap women's crit, Jen McRae (Advil/Chapstick) attacked with only one other rider who couldn't keep up and with 2 laps to go McRae went solo to victory. Tina Pic won the field sprint for second place over Laura Van Gilder.

"This is such an awesome way to end the season. I have been consistently finishing in third all season long. I have been quietly wanting to improve on that….to do it here in Las Vegas is totally awesome. I am pumped." said McRae.

All photos copyright Lyne Lamoureux

Continue reading this post »

The crowds were bigger and rowdier by the time the men's CrossVegas race started at 9pm. The presence of Lance Armstrong brought out a lot of media and the scrum at the start/finish line was unbelievable (see pic on the flip). It was so bad that when I was talking to the winner Ryan Trebon (Kona) after the race, we were physically pushed by folks, including media, trying to get close to Armstrong - blah.

But the racing was great.

"This was the most kickass [cross race] I've ever done, I've done a lot, I've raced I think eight World Championships, I don't know eight or nine Nationals in my time. So many people, to have Lance here, one of my other hero of all times, [Thomas] Frischknecht here closing out his career, it's badass." said US Cross Champ Tim Johnson who finished second.

Trebon wins after a solo attack in the final laps. I was all ready to get the shot but the guy (with a media pass) in front of me with his phone moved and so...

All photos copyright Lyne Lamoureux

Continue reading this post »

The  Men's and Women's CrossVegas races were a blast. While there was no mud and the course was considered 'easy', the racing was fast and aggressive, the crowds big and enthusistic (and beered up as it should be in a cross race) and the organizers had set up plenty of flood lights to help out with the photos. Speaking of, as I had to make do without a real flash (don't ask why, I am an idiot...), the shots could be considered artistic.

The women's race came down to a battle between US Cross Champ Katie Compton (Spike) and Luna's Katrina Nash.

Compton wins CrossVegas 2008

"It was really hard because Katerina rode really well. It was a challenging race and the course was really tough. I tried everything I could to go fast. We were trying to attack each other and we also tried to have a pace that we both could sustain. It’s pretty hard to get in front on this course. We are just naturally fast starters so we just kept the pace on and we really got a good start. It feels really good to win." said Compton after the race.

All photos copyright Lyne Lamoureux

Continue reading this post »

Apologies to all for the delay in coming back to the collective.

My last visit to Interbike was two years ago, and the addition of the two evening (night?) races, the CrossVegas and the USA Crits finale, make for extremely long days. Thursday started off with the Armstrong press conference at 9am and finished at 11:30pm when the men's Crit race finished and I made it back to the hotel - and still hadn't processed the photos.

Also, both Stephanie and I noticed other changes at Interbike the first moment we set foot on the expo floor on Wednesday morning. The crowd attending the show was smaller, less exhuberant, less free stuff given out and the number of 'star' riders available to sign autographs was also smaller and mostly all Americans. The only European road cyclist was Mark Cavendish. Was this caused by Worlds being scheduled at the same time? The economy? The fact that many teams are switching sponsors?

We discussed this with a couple who own a bike shop and they confirmed our thoughts. The bike industry is taking a hit along with everyone else with the economy troubles facing us. A lot of owners are now faced with a big inventory and are not ordering 2009 wares from the vendors, or not in as high volume. And there were no major announcements to generate buzz. They went on to add  that the area that is still growing and making money was in the customization, including custom jerseys.

On with the show

The new Merckx

The ageless Merckx

updated: More photos here

Continue reading this post »

As we all know,  Bobby Julich announced his retirement from Team CSC Saxo Bank earlier in August. The 36-year old rider has been with the team since 2004 and is looking ahead to a possible future within the sport.

This morning, Bobby J told me that he was offered a DS position with the team but he turned it down as he said he "wasn't a good multitasker" with such tasks as driving, texting and talking on the radio and that furthermore, he "hated to drive". He wants to stay with the team, and he is still talking about his future with Bjarne Riis and would like to work in some capacity with the younger riders because he believes "that is what his strengths are".

I also talked to Rock Racing's Rahsaan Bahati yesterday. In a cyclingnews interview in July, Bahati describes his  chronic injuries, from his crushed L5 vertebrae is crushed to his overgrown  right femur which  doesn't fit in my hip socket. I asked Rahsaan about his surgery plans, and he will go under the knife in a few weeks to take care of his hip, but will not have surgery for his back. As he put it, he talked to a few people, and they told him "not do it because he would never come back as strong".

Greetings, er what day is it? what time?

Sorry for delay, but the day ended quite late with a great race last night, the Vegas cross when Kona's Ryan Trebon put the hurt on everybody in the final laps to take the win ahead of US Cross Champion Tim Johnson (Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com) and  Adam Craig (Giant). In the other story, Lance Armstrong riding in a LiveStrong kit raced hard and finished 22nd. Photos later...

Stephanie and I spent the day meeting old friends and making new friends,oh and collecting some autographed posters for the collective. There were less road cyclists signing stuff than previous years. And took a few photos of the shiny stuff ...

you know what to do

Continue reading this post »